Ticking the Rejection Box

Every great writer is a reject.

JK Rowling got rejected from every publishing house name before Bloomsbury took her. The Da Vinci Code, The Chronicles of Narnia, even Dr Suess where all rejected a number of times before they finally found the right agent or publisher. In fact, all the books you can recognise in the photo to the right have been rejected.


If you write and aim to publish that writing to a public audience, then rejection is inevitable. Every writer or publisher will tell you exactly that. But no matter how many times you tell yourself you'll be okay with that, that you understand its part of the business, it still hurts when it happens.

At first you turn your nose up at the rejection, disagreeing with every comment on your work and convincing yourself that you were just too good for that agent. Then the tears come. The 'I'm a terrible writer and I should give up now' wails.

And then you take a couple of days. You go over the feedback that agent may have given you and you really think about it. About why this could have affected their inevitable choice and how you can fix it.

Through my experience I decided to take every criticism, note them down and then think of ways to remove the problem from the story - whether that be adding to word count with more scenes or removing the subplot or character completely. I mapped every chapter and every characters appearance on my Halls bedroom wall and found that I could now recognise where I'd gone wrong - something I couldn't see before.

When it comes to your own writing you're usually blind. Every single word is perfect and the completed manuscript is your treasured child that, when its beaten down, you feel every bruise too. But there are two choices - two solutions.

Either learn to look at your work subjectively and become a hard critic. Read through your work with new eyes and be tough with your cuts and edits. Not many have the heart or ability to do this successfully.
Or, find a critique partner or group. Many published writers recommend joining one of these groups if you look on their FAQ pages, but if you can't find one in your area or one that doesn't cost, turn to a friend or family member. If they're interested in the genre they may be interested in being your first reader - and possibly having a mention in the acknowledgements. Even a classmate can be helpful. If they're a good person they'll be honest with you when you ask.

The Rejection box is a painful one to tick but its necessary for every writers journey. And most of the time those rejection emails are what make you a better, stronger writer.